(*Special edition)
Special edition, because, no, it's not about my Pittsburgh Cruds, or the Chicago What Sox, or the Colorado Rockheads. It's about the most regally full-of-itself, look-we-got-monuments-and-you-don't franchise in baseball.
Come on down, you New York Yankees!
Who used to give us the Babe and the Iron Horse and DiMag and the Mick, all the icons, and now give us Jazz Chisholm Jr., an out-of-his-depth third baseman. OK, and also Aaron Judge, the big slugger who is the Babe's spiritual descendent. And, OK, also Anthony Volpe, who accidentally hit Judge in the face with a throw yesterday during the Bronx Bummers' 12-6 loss to the Mets.
What happened was, Volpe tossed the ball to Judge as the Yankees' right fielder trotted toward the infield at the end of the fourth inning. Apparently this is standard routine for most teams in MLB. But of course nothing is routine for the Bummers these days, so Judge wasn't paying attention and the ball hit him, knocking his sunglasses off and leaving a small cut next to his eye.
Cue up this scene from "A Christmas Story," slightly amended:
Santa: And what do YOU want for Christmas, little boy?
Ralphie: I want to be like Aaron Judge and play for the Yankees!
Santa: You'll put your eye out, kid.
And, OK, so nobody lost an eye, but Judge getting a faceful of horsehide was pretty much emblematic of the Bummers' woes right now. The loss to the Mets was their sixth straight, they're 3-7 in their last 10 games, and since June 13 they're 6-16 and have gone from first place in the AL East to tied for second with Tampa Bay, three games adrift of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The culprit, apparently, is a lot of Bad News Bears hijinks in the field and a depleted pitching staff that can't get anyone out. In other words, very un-Yankees stuff. Somewhere in the Great Beyond, presumably, George Steinbrenner is hurling pink slips like lightning bolts, and it's been reported in some precincts even the Yankee Stadium monuments are getting restless.
Elsewhere, of course, the Rockheads continue to be the gold standard for Crud-ishness. And not just because they're 20-69, 35 1/2 games out of first in the NL West and 24 games out of next to last, and there are still 73 games left in their season.
It's because nowhere in those 73 games do they get to play the Yankees.
Some guys have all the (bad) luck.